If you don't have any understanding of the world and the culture you live in, you're not going to express anything to anybody else.   — Paula Scher

Hey look! Core77 just launched a redesign.

We're not super keen on most Webisodes, but Adweek has a mention of a collaboration between Google and Seth MacFarlane that sounds absolutely watchable.

SyntheticHuman's satirical look at four more years of a Republican government—I'm Voting Republican.

This series of (20) mini-sites for Converse, by ad agency Anomaly, are unique and funny and, most importantly, the perfect length. Our personal we-can't-look favorite: kissingwithross.com.

Seriously funny and destined to become a YouTube classic. (Make sure to read the back story at some point.)

280 Slides. A new app from 280 North. In public beta. Create, store and share presentations—online

Dr. Dobb's Architecture & Design World 2008. OK, despite the fact that Dr. Dobb's sounds like a soap company (yea, we know, it's a long-running tech journal), this conference has very impressive speaker and session lineups.

ICANN, the corporation responsible for domain name management, will soon allow self-selection of top-level domain names. Applications will be available in the second quarter of 2009. This could get interesting.

Hanson Dodge Creative quizzed 300, self-described "active consumers" about the influence that a brand's sustainability policies have on their buying decisions. Then they quizzed a handful of brand reps about their findings. Then they wrote a white paper: The Price and the Payoff of Environmental Responsibility. It's long. But good.

Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars. As part of a master's degree project, a designer interviews designers. A work in progress, the blog so far contains 20 interviews. It's, uh, insightful.